When Susie dipped, chicken nuggets and community unity brought her back home

It was two years ago, and the anxiety-ridden pup was found abandoned and living under a house in Kyabram.

There, she met Tabitha, her new owner.

“I kept going over there, and we slowly made friends as I fed her chicken nuggets — she’s a real foodie,” Tabitha said.

Each chicken nugget was served with a trace of trust, until Susie eventually trusted Tabitha enough to let her take her home.

Having become the new four-legged family member of the Hawley household, Susie showed a strong loyalty to Tabitha.

“She follows me everywhere because she’s very anxious,” Tabitha said.

The pair were inseparable — until Friday, January 31.

Perhaps it was a loud noise that startled her or a bird to chase, but whatever it was, it caused Susie to leap out of and bolt from her owner’s car.

“She got out of the car through the back window, it was down too much,” Tabitha said.

“Once I came back out of the pharmacy, she was just nowhere.”

Tabitha searched the Chemist Warehouse Shepparton car park and surrounding area, but Susie had vanished.

Not long after, the streets darkened, and the moment well after midnight when one day slides into the next felt unusually lonely without Susie’s soft snores in her bed.

“I was in a state,” Tabitha said.

“Because I’m not very Facebook savvy, I had friends make and share the post (about Susie missing).”

That post contained an important message to help bring Susie home: She is very anxious and will only approach her owner. Please do not try to approach her, as she will just run away.

As each day went by and every repost was made, the search intensified.

“It was nice to see everyone in the community share it, and I got so many calls,” Tabitha said.

“There were sightings everywhere — she certainly made some tracks.”

Since her great escape from the central pharmacy, Susie had been spotted at the Shepparton Showgrounds, on Numurkah Rd, at Greater Shepparton Secondary College Wanganui Campus, near ALDI, and along Victoria Park Lake.

Every reported sighting sent Tabitha racing, only to arrive at the location moments too late.

“It was very stressful because she was so quick,” Tabitha said.

“Every sighting, I’d jump in the car and by the time I got there, she’d be gone, or she’d been chased and would be back on the run.

“When that happened, there was no getting her back.”

After six sleepless nights without her fur baby by her side, Tabitha received yet another call to say Susie had been seen at Lincoln Dve in Shepparton.

“I had spent the morning riding my bike through the Botanic Gardens with a backpack full of chicken nuggets,” she said.

“I was wandering along the walking path, and no-one else was around, and she just came to me.”

With a slight chuckle, Tabitha wondered whether it was her or the chicken nuggets that sent Susie running up behind her.

Regardless, Tabitha said Susie was pleased to see her.

“She was jumping around, happy and ready to get in the car,” she said.

Susie was hungry and dehydrated, and upon checking her, the pads of her feet appeared very cracked and inflamed.

Otherwise, she was unharmed.

That night, Susie was exhausted and slept not in the doghouse, but peacefully beside her owner once again.

“It’s good to have her back, and I’m so grateful for everyone’s help,” Tabitha said.

“It was really nice for everyone to be cheering on Susie on her big adventure.”

For a while, Susie’s only form of travel will be through her palate, as eating a chicken nugget transports her to a time when she first felt warmth, love and safety.